I think (but might be wrong) that it's widely understood outside of the US. For exemple in France we don't really talk about race. We talk about ethnicity, origins, religions, skin color. That makes the conversation more complex but that's because it's a really complex topic. On the other hand, ethnic statistics are forbidden here, so it's not like we're perfectly confronting the truth.
I never had to think about race until I came to the U.S. from Latin America. I was asked "so what are you?", which was quite offensive. But Americans seem to be blind to their own obsession to categorize people based on skin color, and now it has been exported around the world. It's quite sad people don't even question it, because you can't, it makes you a racist. I'm surprised this article was even posted, as it is clearly racist by today's cultural standards in America.